charging customers

sometimes when we show up to a weekly cut, the customer comes out and says the lawn does not need to be cut yet it looks ok . do you charge people any way for the cut since the agreement was to cut the lawn weekly.

sometimes when we show up to a weekly cut, the customer comes out and says the lawn does not need to be cut yet it looks ok . do you charge people any way for the cut since the agreement was to cut the lawn weekly.

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I could definitely see you getting some criticism from wanting to charge customers for not performing services.

The only way I could see this being ethical would be if you had an annual contract stating the terms of service and number of cut. However, if that were the case, then you wouldn't be charging for not performing a service because you would have to meet the number of services by the end of the year no matter what.

So, in short, I can't see that being a good idea unless you write it into your contracts that you're charging every week even if no service is performed.

"Please report all incidents of vomitus and fecal contamination to management immediately"

I do not let the customer decide if the lawn needs to be done EW or EOW.

If a lawn hardly grew in one week due to heat and or lack of watering/rain I would skip a week.

If skipping a week will allow the grass grow to tall then you do not skip. A week thin lawn that grows sparse but tall will be a pain to cut because the tall weeds tend to bend over instead of getting cut cleanly. A customer must be told this.

This is why EOW must be charged 50% more then the weekly price due to extra time needed to get a clean clipping free cut, extra stress put on the equipment, extra trimming and edging because the grass was allowed to grow to tall.

Time to find better income areas.

Things to remember

It takes time to fill a schedule with good customers.

Cheap customers get dropped by LCO's once their schedule is filled. That is why many of the new customers are calling you.

The good customers usually are being taken care of by their LCO so they do not look to leave their LCO.

Have patience because it takes most businesses three years to start to take off.

I wouldn't make too much of a fuss over it, if the lawn REALLY could wait another week. like during a drought, im not going to stress a drought stressed lawn by mowing it.

but if it does need it and they still want to wait another week, tell them it will be extra because of the extra time it takes to mow it. I had a customer who couldn't afford it right then, so I told them I could put them on my mailing list and mail the bill once a month, but they didnt want to do that, so I told them it would be extra if I skipped that week. long story short, they dropped me because of that. pissed me off, because it was so STUPID! people are really hardheaded! that's one of the downsides of doing residentials.

Unless your in Florida between May the First through October 31.
easy-lift guy

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I said it grows slower in Summer, May and October are not Summer months, part of June, all of July and August, and part of September are and grass does not grow the same in 98 degree temperatures as it does in 72 or 80.

I said it grows slower in Summer, May and October are not Summer months, part of June, all of July and August, and part of September are and grass does not grow the same in 98 degree temperatures as it does in 72 or 80.

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This is true, however you're referring to two different types of grass. FL. is totally different from VA. In this case, FL grass grows faster when it gets hotter out.

I am finding myself skipping lots of lawns this past week or two. i tell the customer that if i skip, i won't be back for another week, and the way the weather has been around here it'll still hardly have grown.

I am finding myself skipping lots of lawns this past week or two. i tell the customer that if i skip, i won't be back for another week, and the way the weather has been around here it'll still hardly have grown.

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Same here, my list has dropped off significantly. I could barely keep up during the early part of the season when we were getting steady moisture. Now the moisture has stopped and temps have risen. No rain, no mow. That's sort of ironic.